Scion (comics)

Scion is a Cross Gen comic series set on the world of Avalon, which superficially resembles a conventional fantasy setting, but with high tech instead of magic. The series follows Ethan, the youngest prince of the Heron dynasty, as he incurs the wrath of the Raven prince Bron and falls in love with Bron's sister Ashleigh, who recruits him to a movement to free the Lesser Races, genetically engineered slaves and servants in both countries.

The series has been re-collected in the following trade paperbacks:

• Crisis of Conscience
• Blood for Blood
• Divided Loyalties
• Sanctuary
• The Far Kingdom
• Royal Wedding

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Scion provides examples of:

• Action Girl: Ashleigh, Ylena.
• Aerith and Bob: Artor, Kai, Ylena and Ethan; Bron, Kort, and...Ashleigh.
• All-Encompassing Mantle
• All of the Other Reindeer
• Arranged Marriage: Between Bron and Ylena. It's all a ploy by Mai Shen, who disguises herself as King Dane.
• Back From the Dead: Ethan, Bernd Rechts
• Badass Beard: Kai
• Badass Family: The Herons.
• Badass Long Hair: Kai
• Badass Princess: Ashleigh (of the Ravens) and Ylena (of the Herons).
• Bare Your Midriff: Ashleigh, Mai Shen.
• The Baroness: Mai Shen
• Beard of Evil: Bron grows one as the series goes on.
• Big Damn Heroes
• Big Damn Villains: Kort interrupts a fight between Ethan, Kai and Raven guards in Royal Wedding.
• Big "What?": Ethan's reaction to hearing of his sister's impending Arranged Marriage to Bron in issue 35.
• Bounty Hunter: Exeter first appears as one.
• Capulet Counterpart: Ashleigh is introduced as such. Then she recruits Ethan to her slave liberation underground, and the feuding countries thing gets a whole lot less important...to them. Ethan's family is very annoyed that he has largely abandoned their war in favor of his girlfriend's social crusade, and his brother Kai doesn't approve of Ethan's choice of girlfriend.
• Color Coded for Your Convenience: Ethan, yellow. Bron, red. As usual for Cross Gen heroes and villains.
  • Also Mai Shen (red, Sinister) and Bernd Rechts (gold, Dexter), with the colors that belong to their houses in the First.
• Combat by Champion
• Conflicting Loyalty: Ethan's loyalty to his family and kingdom and his loyalty to Ashleigh's cause are not always fully compatable.
• Cool Chair
• Crashing Dreams: In the first issue.
• Cursed with Awesome
• Cycle of Revenge: The war between the Ravens and Herons is set off again by this.
• Dangerous Twenty-First Birthday
• Dark Is Not Evil: Even though she defected from her dynasty, Ashleigh still wears black leather outfits that are commonly associated with the Ravens.
  • Ylena is forced to wear such an outfit during her brief marriage to Bron.
• Dark Magical Girl: Mai Shen
• Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: In issue 36, Ethan succeeds in killing Mai Shen.
• Disney Death
• Disproportionate Retribution: Bron seeks truly excessive revenge against Ethan for his scars.
• Dragon Ascendant: Kort in Royal Wedding.
• Evil Is Petty: Bron. Prominent examples occur in issues 3 and 35.
• Evil Is Sexy: Mai Shen.
• The Evil Prince: Bron and Kort.
• FallenPrince: Ethan
• Fantastic Racism: The Lesser Races are not treated terribly well in Heron lands, but in the Raven lands they're outright enslaved.
• Feuding Families: The royal families of the Herons and the Ravens.
• "Friend or Idol?" Decision
• A God Am I: Mai Shen.
• Go-Go Enslavement: During her brief marriage to Bron in Royal Wedding, Ylena is forced to wear a black leather outfit.
• Good Colors, Evil Colors: Cross Gen's usual. Gold is "good", red is "evil".
• Good Is Not Nice: Even after his Heel Face Turn, Exeter is far less merciful than Ethan might like.
• Green Lantern Ring: Ethan's sigil allows him to magically conjure an energy sword.
• Hair of Gold: Ethan and his family have the coloring; he has the personality as well.
• Happily Ever After: Royal Wedding ends with a shot of an older Ethan (now sporting a Badass Beard) with a young son, a pregnant Ashleigh, and an older Skink and Exeter.
• Heel Face Turn: Exeter goes from a fairly menacing minor villain to The Big Guy of the main group.
• Hell-Bent for Leather: The Ravens. Goodness gracious, the Ravens.
  • And Mai Shen.
• The Hero: Ethan
• Heroes Want Redheads: From the moment redheaded Ashleigh comes into the story, it's obvious she will be Ethan's Love Interest.
• Hot-Blooded: Bron
• Hot Chick with a Sword: Ashleigh, Ylena.
• Hot Mom: Heron queen Mariella, Ashleigh (if the Where Are They Now epilogue at the end of Royal Wedding is anything to go by).
• Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Ethan in Blood for Blood. Mai Shen in issue 36, courtesy of Ethan. Bron, twice.
• Killed Off for Real: Artor, Mai Shen.
• King Incognito: The drunk that Ethan, Kai and Ylena come across in Royal Wedding turns out to be their missing, amnesiac father Dane.
• Klingon Promotion: Bron kills his father King Viktor to gain the throne.
  • Later in the series, Bron's younger brother Kort stabs Bron in the heart (Bron survives) and becomes King of the Raven Dynasty in his stead.
• Laser-Guided Amnesia: What Mai Shen does to King Dane.
• Lizard Folk: Some of the Lesser Races are rather reptilian, such as Skink.
• Lower Deck Episode: One issue follows a Lower Races slave escaping from Raven lands to Ethan and Ashleigh's haven. The main cast appears only on the last page.
• The Man Behind the Man: Bron could easily have been the Big Bad of the series, and had his own motivations (however petty) for hating Ethan...but he was only such a great threat because Mai Shen gave him powers and a lot of help in order to further her own plans.
• The Mentor: Skink, for Ethan.
• Non-Human Sidekick: Skink
• Offhand Backhand: Mai Shen does this to Kai in issue 36.
• Old Retainer: Skink
• Overlord, Jr.: Bron
• Petting Zoo People: Some of the Lesser Races, although some of them seem to be anthromorphozed Mix-and-Match Critters instead.
• Physical God: Mai Shen is a member of the First (House Sinister, to be precise), originally sent to observe the conflict. Bernd Rechts is her House Dexter counterpart.
• Power Tattoo: As usual in Cross Gen, Ethan has one.
• Retirony
• Royal Brat: Bron
• Save the Princess: What Ethan and Kai set out to do after Ylena is married to Bron in Royal Wedding.
• Scars Are Forever: The scar Ethan accidentally gives Bron, starting off this whole mess. Normally, Heron/Raven technology can heal wounds perfectly with no scars; Ethan's Sigil-Bearer power allows him to inflict wounds that cannot be healed this way.
• Servant Race: The Lesser Races. In Heron lands, they have some rights, although not equal to humans; in Raven lands, they're enslaved with very few exceptions.
• Sexy Discretion Shot: Ethan and Ashleigh in Divided Loyalties.
• Skewed Priorities
• Slashed Throat: What Bron does to Artor.
  • In Divided Loyalties, Kai attempts this with Ashleigh until Ethan stops him.
• Slave Liberation: The plot that ends up highjacking the "warring Herons and Ravens" one.
• So Proud of You
• Spirit Advisor: Artor to Ethan in Blood for Blood.
• Super Window Jump
• Surrogate Soliloquy: Bron performs this with Viktor's statue at the start of Divided Loyalties.
• Teleporters and Transporters: Mai Shen. And she uses it to rescue Bron when he loses a duel with Ethan.
• Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: Mai Shen: I will be a goddess!
• Touched by Vorlons: In Blood for Blood, Mai Shen gives Bron a portion of her power with a kiss. While they're both naked in a hot tub.
• Underwater Kiss: Ethan and Ashleigh in Divided Loyalties.
• White Sheep: Ashleigh, princess of the country where the Lesser Races are outright enslaved, devotes her life to freeing them. Her brothers paint her as a more straightforward Black Sheep, and find her a convenient scapegoat for Bron's murder of their father.
• Wound That Will Not Heal: Ethan unintentionally gives one to Bron in the first issue.
• Wrongly Accused: Ashleigh, by Bron.